Long-range missiles belonging to Iran splashed down Saturday just 100 miles from the Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group, Fox News reported.
At least two Iranian ballistic missiles exploded on impact when they hit the ocean about 100 miles from the nuclear aircraft carrier and other Navy vessels, sending debris in all directions, according to US officials who Fox News didn’t identify.
The Department of Defense did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.
At least one missile landed 20 miles from a commercial vessel, according to Fox News, but the officials would not provide any details about the ship, citing privacy issues.
The Nimitz is in the region after President Trump overruled Pentagon officials who were going to send the carrier home to Washington state early this month.
Fox reported that US spy satellites tracked the missile launch from Iran. Later, the Revolutionary Guards released a photo of a missile taking off from an undisclosed site in central Iran.
“We were expecting the missile launch,” one official told the outlet.
The missile launch took place on the second day of military exercises by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and the day after a series of ballistic missile tests.
“One of our most important defense policy goals is to use long-range ballistic missiles against enemy warships, including aircraft carriers and warships,” Guards Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami told Iranian state media.
Because the missiles can travel roughly 1,100 miles, Salami said, “we can now strike moving targets in the ocean,” instead of the usual low-speed cruise missiles.
Tensions with Iran remain high in Trump’s final days as president, with the Islamic Republic ramping up nuclear production and exercising a show of force in the region as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office.
Biden has said he wants to re-enter the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that Trump exited in 2018, but only “if Iran resumes strict compliance.”